> The results of taxpayer-funded research need to be made freely available, not sold to the highest bidder.
They are auctioning the Patents not the Technology...there is a difference. Someone in NASA probably looked at their patent maintenance costs and said, "we can save some money by auctioning off these duds". My guess is that they aren't auctioning off the "rocket science", but the poorly written patents and so-called paper patents on technology that was never reduced to practice (warp drive?). I imagine that a few companies will pick through the garage sale looking for bargains. But ask yourself, if they are worth money (i.e., people are already infringing) why not enforce them instead?
These two books, Kanji Pict-o-Graphix and Kana Pict-o-Graphix: Mnemonics for Japanese Hiragana and Katakana, are great, they have mnemonics for each character. I used the small, Kana book when traveling to Japan for years to translate ads while riding the train (since most kana is used to transliterate foreign words, often English). I got so I could decipher menus at Starbucks or an Italian restaurant. I could read Ka Fa Ra Te.
This is about "method" patents, not only "business method" patents. The SCOTUS maintained that the first sale doctrine applies to method patents as well. This is a big deal for industries with complex supply chains where an end product (like a laptop) has components that have passed through many hands. In the same way that a patent holder of a surface mount resistor can't charge a royalty to the PC brand if they already charged the mother-boardmaker, a holder of a method patent for example, a "method of caching operations in a processor", cannot charge a royalty to everyone who buys and sells the product. The licensors are left with the decision to pick where in the value chain to insert their bite, at the low end where their value added is great but profits are lower, or higher up where the profits are higher but the contribution of the invention is diluted.
IANAL
HIPAA applies to providers and insurance companies. If YOU give out your information, than too bad. Most hospitals have you sign a form that allows them to transmit much of your info anyway, which is often preferable (like from XRay tech to Radiologist to your doctor) than having to sign four different releases.
Also, while much of HIPAA is about privacy, remember the "P" stands for portability, not privacy. The right to obtain your records. Google, MS and others are providing a place for you to keep them. Time will tell if that is a good idea or not.
One thing you can do at a Liberal Arts school is pull a "student-faculty-designed major". This can be extremely valuable in the future. Essentially you can design a major that is very unique. A couple of caveats: it has to be unique, you can't just use it to avoid a stats class in a CS program. It has to be meaningful, some places will let you do a aeronautics-astrology major, you need to have a strong theme, like Computer Architecture-biology (with an intent to study AI or Wolfram type CAs) or Social Computing where you mix CS, sociology and Psych. It is a LOT of work. As the parent mentioned, you will end up teaching yourself a lot, or finding profs that are willing to do 1-on-1 projects. You really need to plan for graduate school, this is where much of the peer learning will happen.
In the long term, employers will often be impressed at your educational plan (assuming you execute, GPA in the high 3.x (in my day, a 4.0 was a 4.0, none of this 5 stuff (get of my lawn)))
The big benefit is that the LA school will expose you to a bunch of subjects that you would never learn otherwise or regret that you didn't learn in the future. You might discover a hidden personal passion in art or writing, or you might just be good at crossword puzzles. But you will come out well-rounded and know much more about life than a tech-school CS major (oh by the way, did I mention that it is a lot of work?)
It is definitely worth a visit. I visited with my dad, who is a code history nut, back in 1999. We didn't plan to go but saw the brown historical site roadsign on the way from DC to Baltimore and made an impromptu visit. On the wall, there was a framed review saying how the museum was a great visit but was not well advertised. The NSA spokesman quoted in the article said, "Well, the NSA is not big on publicity"
>I haven't read this all that closely,
The new system only posts patent applications after they have published (18 months after filing) and are public anyway.
Couldn't you use normal film, then develop in warm developer (say 35 degrees C) and use chemical swelling to change the color? That would shift the frequency down.
No idea if that works with normal film or not
It doesn't. The color is formed by dyes. Dye color isn't affected by swelling. Your trick would only work for holography or other system where the color is formed by interference phenomenon. Besides, the colors would shift back after the film dries and cools off.
The color sensitivity is not affected by the chemical processing.
I studied RFID applications for a few years. There are some interesting, practical uses:
They are going in tires to facilitate recalls. Remember the Firestone fiasco?
Toy companies are looking to RFID for "talking" action figures. A RF reader can detect which character(s) is near and "say" the appropriate thing. Also, collectable card games (Magic) or Baseball cards tagged with RFIDs to update stats.
There are some interesting industrial uses. One involved RFID tags embedded in epoxy in a factory floor. Forklifts with readers and wireless PDAs could instruct the driver where the load was supposed to go. In one case, the forks would be disabled if the lift was trying to dump a product in the wrong bin.
And finally, RFID put a guy out of work. IN a auto paintshop, the car bodies move on automated tracks. However, there was a guy who sat watching the bodies go by and redirected the body in to the right paintroom or bake oven. With the addition of temperature resistant RFID tags, his job was automated.
Slashdot Mirror
> The results of taxpayer-funded research need to be made freely available, not sold to the highest bidder.
They are auctioning the Patents not the Technology...there is a difference. Someone in NASA probably looked at their patent maintenance costs and said, "we can save some money by auctioning off these duds". My guess is that they aren't auctioning off the "rocket science", but the poorly written patents and so-called paper patents on technology that was never reduced to practice (warp drive?). I imagine that a few companies will pick through the garage sale looking for bargains. But ask yourself, if they are worth money (i.e., people are already infringing) why not enforce them instead?
It's HIPAA not HIPPA. /sorry, pet peeve.
./ers will no doubt want to set the "wii fit instructor" to the female and watch her demo yoga for additional "exercise".
These two books, Kanji Pict-o-Graphix and Kana Pict-o-Graphix: Mnemonics for Japanese Hiragana and Katakana, are great, they have mnemonics for each character. I used the small, Kana book when traveling to Japan for years to translate ads while riding the train (since most kana is used to transliterate foreign words, often English). I got so I could decipher menus at Starbucks or an Italian restaurant. I could read Ka Fa Ra Te.
This is about "method" patents, not only "business method" patents. The SCOTUS maintained that the first sale doctrine applies to method patents as well. This is a big deal for industries with complex supply chains where an end product (like a laptop) has components that have passed through many hands. In the same way that a patent holder of a surface mount resistor can't charge a royalty to the PC brand if they already charged the mother-boardmaker, a holder of a method patent for example, a "method of caching operations in a processor", cannot charge a royalty to everyone who buys and sells the product. The licensors are left with the decision to pick where in the value chain to insert their bite, at the low end where their value added is great but profits are lower, or higher up where the profits are higher but the contribution of the invention is diluted. IANAL
HIPAA applies to providers and insurance companies. If YOU give out your information, than too bad. Most hospitals have you sign a form that allows them to transmit much of your info anyway, which is often preferable (like from XRay tech to Radiologist to your doctor) than having to sign four different releases. Also, while much of HIPAA is about privacy, remember the "P" stands for portability, not privacy. The right to obtain your records. Google, MS and others are providing a place for you to keep them. Time will tell if that is a good idea or not.
One thing you can do at a Liberal Arts school is pull a "student-faculty-designed major". This can be extremely valuable in the future. Essentially you can design a major that is very unique. A couple of caveats: it has to be unique, you can't just use it to avoid a stats class in a CS program. It has to be meaningful, some places will let you do a aeronautics-astrology major, you need to have a strong theme, like Computer Architecture-biology (with an intent to study AI or Wolfram type CAs) or Social Computing where you mix CS, sociology and Psych. It is a LOT of work. As the parent mentioned, you will end up teaching yourself a lot, or finding profs that are willing to do 1-on-1 projects. You really need to plan for graduate school, this is where much of the peer learning will happen. In the long term, employers will often be impressed at your educational plan (assuming you execute, GPA in the high 3.x (in my day, a 4.0 was a 4.0, none of this 5 stuff (get of my lawn))) The big benefit is that the LA school will expose you to a bunch of subjects that you would never learn otherwise or regret that you didn't learn in the future. You might discover a hidden personal passion in art or writing, or you might just be good at crossword puzzles. But you will come out well-rounded and know much more about life than a tech-school CS major (oh by the way, did I mention that it is a lot of work?)
It is definitely worth a visit. I visited with my dad, who is a code history nut, back in 1999. We didn't plan to go but saw the brown historical site roadsign on the way from DC to Baltimore and made an impromptu visit. On the wall, there was a framed review saying how the museum was a great visit but was not well advertised. The NSA spokesman quoted in the article said, "Well, the NSA is not big on publicity"
But...but...Mars Needs Women...
>I haven't read this all that closely, The new system only posts patent applications after they have published (18 months after filing) and are public anyway.
Was I the only one to read the title as "The Battle of the Frisbees"?
Walmart also censors your pictures if they look too "professional"
No idea if that works with normal film or not
It doesn't. The color is formed by dyes. Dye color isn't affected by swelling. Your trick would only work for holography or other system where the color is formed by interference phenomenon. Besides, the colors would shift back after the film dries and cools off. The color sensitivity is not affected by the chemical processing.
I studied RFID applications for a few years. There are some interesting, practical uses: They are going in tires to facilitate recalls. Remember the Firestone fiasco? Toy companies are looking to RFID for "talking" action figures. A RF reader can detect which character(s) is near and "say" the appropriate thing. Also, collectable card games (Magic) or Baseball cards tagged with RFIDs to update stats. There are some interesting industrial uses. One involved RFID tags embedded in epoxy in a factory floor. Forklifts with readers and wireless PDAs could instruct the driver where the load was supposed to go. In one case, the forks would be disabled if the lift was trying to dump a product in the wrong bin. And finally, RFID put a guy out of work. IN a auto paintshop, the car bodies move on automated tracks. However, there was a guy who sat watching the bodies go by and redirected the body in to the right paintroom or bake oven. With the addition of temperature resistant RFID tags, his job was automated.
Most company badges have RFID in them already. You are "tracked" when you use it to unlock the door. The range is just shorter, like 6 inches.